Today if the neighbours see me muttering to myself, I’m just practising for my reading at the Gloucester Poetry Festival this Saturday at 2pm. There’ll be some of Six-Count Jive, lots about the beautiful seaside and some new poems including one published by Fevers of the Mind this week and another for my darling dad whose birthday would have been today.

I’ll be with fantastic poets Chaucer Cameron and JLM Morton and there’s an OPEN MIC if you’d like to join us. It’s all online so you don’t need to go out in the autumn hurly burly, if that’s what it’s like where you are.

So – THIS SATURDAY, 2PM, and it’s FREE. Just register for your Zoom link here.

Overnight two poems of mine have appeared on David L O’Nan’s Fevers of the Mind blog and you can find them here with a fabulous sea sunset picture.

Thank you very much, David, for everything you do for our expressions of mental health in poetry and art. The Fevers blog is a gorgeous place to ramble through excellent words by writers from all over the world. It’s expanding every day and is always looking for submissions.

Pack away sandals, sun-honeyed

limbs; autumn’s

here, welcome as wisdom.

Our English summer left us abruptly this week and we’re tucking up warm away from rain and winds. Luckily we have the Gloucester Poetry Festival to look forward to all through October, link here. It’s online so you’re welcome wherever you live. Very many thanks to the Gloucestershire Poet Laureate Ziggy Dicks and Marcelle Newbold who are organising it all. Herding cats is easy compared with herding poets and my goodness, they are terrific at it.

On Saturday 23 October, from 2pm, I have the honour of reading along side Chaucer Cameron and JLM Morton. Please check them out, they are extraordinary poets with great stories to tell. I’m gathering a new collection together at the moment and will have some new poems for you too. Free registration is here.

There is an open mic in this event too! We’d love to hear your words so please register here soon to be sure of a place.

What a great month this is going to be. See you there soon!